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What kind of collapsologist are you?

We’re increasingly discussing, commenting on, and analyzing the coming doom of industrial civilization, leading to the coining of a new term: “collapsology.” Are you a catastrophic thinker, obsessed with the imminent collapse? Or do you have a more optimistic outlook, reserving some hope for humanity? Find out with a pop quiz!

The question that we’ve been asking ourselves for several months is: should we talk about theories of collapse? Is that our role? We’re torn between astonishment at how terms like “responsibility” and “CSR” seem to be absent — or at least quite rare — among the hot-button issues for managers in 2019 (I’m not talking about large corporate values but rather the subjects considered urgent for managers in 2019) and stupefaction at the sheer number of debates regarding the possible end of thermo-industrial civilization.

Have you considered this haunting question: how can human society avoid imminent collapse? As we look at past societies, should we approach this topic with optimism, like Jared Diamond does in his book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive (2005), or with resignation, like Laurent Testot in his book Cataclysme (Payot, 2017)?

If this subject is totally foreign to you or even just a bit unclear, take a look at this quiz from Usbek & Rica: in three minutes, you’ll learn more about collapse and also be able to figure out what kind of collapsologist you really are.

After receiving a degree in agronomy from AgroParisTech and a Masters in Business Administration from HEC in Paris, she spent 12 years in the food industry (cotton, palm oil, and tobacco), first as a consultant, and then, via her strong understanding of how to lead complex investment projects in emerging countries, as the director of development with the Bolloré group. She has run Business Digest since 1998, a company that she co-founded in 1992. And she took the Internet plunge by 1996… even before coming on board as part of the BD team.